Fire destroys home, including family Christmas presents

(Photo Mike Hensdill/The Gaston Gazette) A fire which started in the attic gutted a home on West First Street in Lowell Saturday. The owners returned to the home Monday morning, December 9, 2013. Here, homeowner Drew McCullough finds some photographs in the drawer of a table that was removed from the burning home.

By Lauren Baheri

Published: Monday, December 9, 2013 at 04:54 PM.

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A family of six doesn’t know where they’ll spend Christmas after a fire destroyed their Lowell home Saturday morning. Karla McCullough, her mother, Cynthia Mical, her husband, Drew McCullough and their three daughters lost nearly everything in the fire. That included the girls’ Christmas presents.

Christmas lights, some black from smoke, still hang on the outside of the house at 301 W. First St. A nativity scene sits untouched on the lawn. Inside, the 100-year-old house is a shambles. Charred wooden boards, fallen from the attic and through the ceiling, cover the floor of the home.

Drew McCullough sifts through the remains of his living room. He points to the spot where he believes the fire started in what used to be a ceiling. “I keep thinking I’m going to wake up to reality and this is a dream,” he said. “But it’s not. This is reality.”

Everyone except his 2-year-old daughter was home Saturday around 10:30 a.m., when the fire started. The toddler had spent the night with a relative. Karla McCullough had stepped into the shower while her husband and 5-year-old daughter went to pick up oil at AutoZone in Gastonia.

No one inside knew the house was on fire. Drew McCullough was driving home when he saw the smoke. “It was so thick, just blowing out wherever it could,” he said. “I knew it was bad.”

Drew McCullough ran inside, leaving his car running in the driveway. “He came running in the house, going, ‘The house is on fire. The house is on fire,’” Mical said. “I was in shock, I didn’t believe him.”

Mical and her 12-year-old granddaughter ran from the house while Drew McCullough helped his wife dress and get out. Monday, the family stood by the home, assessing the damage. The community has been comforting, Drew McCullough said.

A family of six doesn’t know where they’ll spend Christmas after a fire destroyed their Lowell home Saturday morning. Karla McCullough, her mother, Cynthia Mical, her husband, Drew McCullough and their three daughters lost nearly everything in the fire. That included the girls’ Christmas presents.

Christmas lights, some black from smoke, still hang on the outside of the house at 301 W. First St. A nativity scene sits untouched on the lawn. Inside, the 100-year-old house is a shambles. Charred wooden boards, fallen from the attic and through the ceiling, cover the floor of the home.

Drew McCullough sifts through the remains of his living room. He points to the spot where he believes the fire started in what used to be a ceiling. “I keep thinking I’m going to wake up to reality and this is a dream,” he said. “But it’s not. This is reality.”

Everyone except his 2-year-old daughter was home Saturday around 10:30 a.m., when the fire started. The toddler had spent the night with a relative. Karla McCullough had stepped into the shower while her husband and 5-year-old daughter went to pick up oil at AutoZone in Gastonia.

No one inside knew the house was on fire. Drew McCullough was driving home when he saw the smoke. “It was so thick, just blowing out wherever it could,” he said. “I knew it was bad.”

Drew McCullough ran inside, leaving his car running in the driveway. “He came running in the house, going, ‘The house is on fire. The house is on fire,’” Mical said. “I was in shock, I didn’t believe him.”

Mical and her 12-year-old granddaughter ran from the house while Drew McCullough helped his wife dress and get out. Monday, the family stood by the home, assessing the damage. The community has been comforting, Drew McCullough said.

He was in Subway this weekend to pick up sandwiches for the family after buying necessities like clothes and body wash at Wal-Mart. His daughter spoke up at the counter, telling the cashier how many firemen were at her house that day. Drew McCullough reluctantly told the cashier what had happened.

The woman told him to take the food. She would take care of the bill. She had seen the burned home and wanted to help. Right now the family is staying at the Holiday Inn in Belmont while searching for a more permanent place to stay.